Impact assessment of oncology literature published in Serbia

Abstract

BACKGROUND: The study evaluates publication and distribution of biomedical and oncology articles in medical journals in Serbia from 1995 to 2000 and their correlation with socioeconomic variables. METHODS: Retrospective bibliometric research was done in the following medical journals: Srpski Arhiv, Vojnosanitetski Pregled, Medicinski Pregled, and Archive of Oncology. RESULTS: Quantitative analysis showed that 2,468 biomedical articles were published in Serbia. Out of these 855 (30.64%) were oncology papers, which accounts for 3.6% of oncology article production in the countries of European Union. The number of oncology articles in relation to the number of inhabitants was 0.00024%, and 0.10% in relation to GDP. The analysis of key words showed that breast cancer was the leading field of research. Adryamicin was the most frequently drug used in clinical trials and apoptosis was the most investigated topic of experimental research. Standardization of key words according to MeSH was highly recommended. CONCLUSION: Bibliometric analysis shows that the production of scientific oncology literature in Serbia has been very low in comparison with the same production in small and large countries of European Union. The assessment and the quality of the oncology and biomedical publications have an effect on the definition of the position and development of the strategy for scientific production in the country. Systematization of the national database for biomedical publications will help the assessment of the quality of scientific research in oncology and medicine in general. © 2005, Institute of Oncology Sremska Kamenica.